Take Advantage of Google Sites

As you have been getting familiar with Gmail and Google Calendar, you may have noticed other available Google Apps applications, such as Google Sites.

Google Sites allows you to quickly and easily create websites that can be shared and edited by others, and you don’t even have to know a lick of HTML to do so.

Here at the Help Desk, we use Google Sites for several different purposes, including interdepartmental collaboration, procedural instructions and information repositories.

The Help Desk (and other OIT departments) are constantly working on projects requiring collaboration between several team members who are often housed in different campus locations. A Google Site shared with the various teams is a great way for us to assign responsibilities, keep track of time lines, add documentation and keep track of comments on our progress.

The OIT Help Desk's Google Site

We also use Google Sites to post instructions regarding processes and policies. The ease of sharing and editing Google Sites is a great tool to use as an electronic bulletin board. We can quickly and easily create a Google Site for all in our department to view and edit as needed. For example, our Computer Account Request processes are thoroughly detailed on our internal Help Desk Google Site. Each team member has the ability to update the processes as needed as procedures change; we no longer need to email changes to an individual to do the work of updating the site.

We have also utilized Google Sites as a knowledge base. As an example, the Help Desk links all of our staff meeting minutes (in Google Doc format) on a Site page so team members may review what was discussed at any prior meeting, as well as easily search and reference all of our past weekly meeting minutes. We also have devoted a portion of our Site to past documentation, processes and projects (fittingly called the “Ancient Archive”).

Interdepartmental collaboration, procedural instructions and information repositories are just some of the ways Google Sites may be used from an administrative perspective. Google Sites is also a great technology tool for the classroom. Google Sites at Boise State have been used to create and display student artwork, post detailed syllabi, discuss research findings, provide information on upcoming seminars, etc.  Individual students or groups can create Google Sites for class project collaboration, and instructors and students can collaborate in class using Sites.  The possibilities are limitless.

The OIT Help Desk is currently offering a brief one-hour Google Sites training class, providing participants with information on how to add different types of information to a Google Site, as well as presenting real-world examples of how Google Sites are being used by the campus community. To register for a class, see the Help Desk’s website.

For useful tips on how to create Google Sites for your needs, see the Help Desk’s Google Sites How-To webpage.